Focus On Holographic: Nfu Oh 065

Oh man. This is probably the second strongest linear holographic polish in my collection. I'd heard that these babies were amazing, but I'd never tried out one of the Nfu Oh holos before - I am not disappoint, son.
Haha, I'm such a weirdo. Anyway, everything you've ever heard about Nfu Oh holos and application issues is true. I had massive balding with this. I fought and struggled with it like nobody's business! I don't have the much touted aqua base coat - why yes, I refuse to drop that much on a base coat that I'd only need with these and my precious Gosh! - so I just used my regular base coat. I remembered a trick my friend Sara, from Daily Polish, told me though. She said if you just kind of glob it on, it will help cover the bald patches and it will eventually settle into a smooth finish on its own. Umm, I don't know about you fanatics, but that seems to go against everything I do when polishing my nails - but guess what, it works! I tried to be super careful on my first two coats, but no luck. I went slow. I had plenty of polish on my brush. Not. Working. So on my last coat, I globbed it on, and success! I only had a few tiny patches that weren't kosher.
Okay, so other than having to really baby this bad boy, it's STUNNING. Seriously. If your formula is a bit thick, try adding some thinner - mine was almost too thick to use. This is a perfect baby blue and when you get it into the sun, it explodes into amazing. Let's look at the end result.

Well, I'd say the struggle was worth it. What do you think? Remember, this is even more amazing in person!

Focus On Duochrome: Essence Where Is The Party?

This little $1 bottle of polish is a true chameleon. And it's a pain in the butt to capture, as you'll see from my multiple photos! I can't get any of the blue to show up on camera, but the green, grey and purple do. But - this is weird - the purple is more of a lilac chrome. Well, we all know how purples can be on camera, not well behaved right?
I used two coats for this. I recently picked this up during my first ever meet up with a polish blogger, Jennifer from Lacquer Lover and I tried to slay some lemmings but were largely unsuccessful. We did have a good time in Ulta, though, just browsing around and talking it up about polish! Hopefully we can do that again sometime. She also found the new Revlon glitters and Royal Cloak for me! You'll see those soon.
Anyway, back to Where Is The Party? I want to type this Where's The Party, like the Madonna song. O_o This is darker and has better opacity than its cousin, Wet N Wild Gray's Anatomy. I took a bazillion photos, but narrowed it down for you - aren't you grateful? Haha. Anyway, this is shown off in a myriad of light, from full sun to shade.

Hum, I just realized the photos I picked are all at the same angle. I usually try to switch it up, but straight on just didn't work out for this polish. I also picked up three of the recent Holografics collection - I'm still missing two, but those are all duochromes as well - NOT holographic.

Focus On Blue: Hard Candy Sky

Hard Candy Sky is a sister to the much loved Chanel Riva - it's not a dupe, but it's darned close! Have a look at Kelly of Vampy Varnish's comparison post. I picked this up ages ago and have never done a swatch of it for the blog, but I did try it out. I've worn this probably three times and I have a hard time getting it even and not patchy! This time, I did three thin coats. It's probably my best application yet!
Sky is a pale baby blue creme with a subtle darker blue shimmer running through it. As a matter of fact, it's so subtle, you cannot see it in my photos. You can see a tiny bit of it in the bottle, but not on my nails.
Application is tough, but this color is gorgeous. I've always had a soft spot for baby blues, so this one will stay in my stash and I'll just be patient with it.
Plus, it makes a great layering base! I recently picked up a couple of Kleancolors (not the much touted "holos"!) and I decided to try out Sparkle Emerald over this. WIN. This is so completely gorgeous and glowing. I tried my best to capture how much Sparkle Emerald glows in photos, my best shots were a tad blurry.

Yeah, it's probably best to click on those last two photos to get a true look at how pretty Sparkle Emerald is! Not aptly named, though. This is not reminiscent of emerald in any shape or form.

Revlon Spring Minis Part Two: Waterfall, Sparkle, and Garden

Here's the second set of spring minis from the display I found: Waterfall, a pale blue with fine silver shimmer; Sparkle, a clear base with multi-sized silvery rainbow glitter ( I hesitate to call this holo, but you get the idea); and Garden, a spring-y green with a good dose of yellow. I was instantly attracted to all three of these shades, unlike the last trio. Waterfall is a gorgeous shade and I only needed two coats for opacity - but I have a problem with this one. It has lumps. O_o What is THAT? Is it because of the shimmer? I don't even know. Sparkle is sparse on its own, so I have layered it over the other two shades - it's a great topper. And I lovelovelove Garden, it's perfect. I'd like a big bottle, please Revlon. Two coats, it's a perfect creme.
(PS, sorry for the kind of crappy package shots. I think the plastic makes it almost seem blurry.)

Waterfall.

Garden.

Sparkle over Waterfall first, Garden next.

I've heard that Waterfall is pretty dupey looking to the full sized light blue spring release from Revlon - the name's escaping me right now. Also, apparently Sparkle is similar to one of their previous glitters. So, Garden is the only original in this bunch.